Under reaming device



July 7, 1953 E E. L. CARPENTER 256441568 UNDER REAMING DEVICE Filed Jan. 20, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 7

July 7, 1953 E. L. CARPENTER 2,644,663

UNDER REAMING DEVICE Filed Jan. 20, 1951 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

0 uni/Car 51215! By J Patented July 7, 1953 6 UNITED STATES PATENT oF IcEjQf.

UNDER REAMING DEVICE Edgar L. Carpenter, Wichita Falls,Tex.

Application January 20, 1951, Serial No. 207,018

' 9 Claims. (01. 25549) This invention relates to improvements in under reaming devices for under reaming holes for foundations thereby enabling the footings or any intermediate point of the hole to be enprovides driving, lifting and expanding mecha nism for the operation of the unit.

An embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in whichi V Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the device with parts broken away and shortened and show-' ing diagrammatic representation in section of the manner of operation;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view larged materially so as to provide a greater bear- 5 through the rotary table with parts shown ing area when filled with concrete or the like. elevation to show the construction of the rotary Various under reamers have been proposed table and associated parts; a heretofore, but these for the most part have been Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view with cumbersome in construction and use, whichhas parts broken away and shown in section of the precluded. their acceptance in the construction automatic under reaming expander feed control; field where such a device would have the widest Fig. 4 is a perspective view showingthe under I r I reamer and the rotary drive table and associated, The present device may be used in conjuncmechanism together with the drill stem; tion with a regulation power hole digger, and V Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken above may be used to enlarge the hole at the bottom the under reamer cutters and looking downward, thereof or at any intermediate point, at the will with parts broken away and shown in section to. of the operator. The device may be so. arranged show the details of construction and showing the as to automatically feed the cutters outward in under reamer cutters in expanded position;- proportion to the revolutions of the rotary table 9 Fig. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of a poror the cutters may be expanded outward manution of the rotary table and associated feed mechally to give the desired degree of expansion, up anism and showing the drill stem in section; and to the maximum capacity. The device may be Fig. '7 is a fragmentary sectional view through provided with removable cutter teeth which teeth theremovable cutter portion of. the under reamer may be hard'surfaced if desired, to make-the 95 showing the attachment of'the under reameruncler reamer'adaptable-for use on many types blades. 1 6 of earth formation. With more detailed reference to the drawing.

An objector this invention is to provide an the numeral I designates a vehicle for the trans-.' under reaming device the cutters of which may portation of the under reaming'device from place. be manually adjusted while the deviceis being to place The entire under reamer unit, generally operated. designated at 2, is mountedon a frame 3 com-' Another object of this invention is to provide prising :a power unit 4, a clutch mechanism 5, an under reaming device that may-be positioned transmission 6 out of whichextends a drive shaft within a hole and expanded to the desired degree 1. A bevel gear 8 is positioned on t of so as to cut an-enlargement at the bottom'of the drive shaft 1 and meshes with a complementaryhole or at any intermediate point between'the bevel ring gear 9 which forms a rotary table, as top and b tt m thereof, will best be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and 4. The Still another object'of the invention isto prorotary table is journaled on a bearing I El and has vide an under reaming device which automati removable spaced hold-down lugs I I at spaced incally expansible in accordance with the rotation tervals around the periphery of the rotary table of the rotary table. 40 in overlapping relation so as to keep therotary Yet another object of the invention isto protable in place, yet allow the rotary table to be vide an under reaming device havingexpansible readily removed when necessary to remove the cutting elements with removable toothed sections. expansible reamer, as willbe more fullydescribed A still further object of the invention is to prohereinafter. vide a device the rotary table of which may be r5 The rotary table, generally designated by the readily removed to permit the withdrawal of the numeral 12, has a squared axial opening I3 thereexpansible cutter elements through the opening through which opening slidably receives 'a drill formed by the removal of the rotary table. stem 14. A boom or derrick .15 is supported on Still another object of this invention is to proframe 3 so as to position a sheave I6 over' the' vide a self contained under reaming unit that rotary table in such manner that a cable l'l will align substantially with the center of the axial opening l3 therein. A swivel member l8 'inter' connects drill stem M with cable I! to permit turning action of the drill stem I4 by rotary table may be spooled on a hoist I3 and payed out a given amount to lower the under reaming element inc a bore hole 2 l to perform the under reaming operation, such as shown at 22 and 22a in Fig. 1.

The under reamer, generally designated at 29, is mounted on the lower end of the squared drill stem 14 with the drill stem being secured to the circular bottom plate 23 and cross bar 24 so as to impart a driving relation to the under reamer elements. 25, whichv elements are pivoted on a shaft 26 at one end for-swinging movement and are held in adjusted relation by a rope or cable 2'! anchored to loop 23 with. the other end of the rope being wound around axle 29, which enablesthe cutter elements to beheld in any fixed relation or to be adjusted either outward" or inward, either by manipulation. of crankv that rotates a sprocket 3! or by actuation of an automatic feed.

A pair of squared shafts 32 extend upward through bushings 33 in rotary table- 12, which bushings .have sprockets 34 on the respective ends thereof around which sprockets a.chain.3.5 passes retracted.

The underreamer elements 25 carry removable cutter blades 36 which blades preferably have serrated edges. The cutter blades 36 are bolted to the' outer ends, of the under reamer elements 2:3 by bolts-37;. These bolts are preferably recessed as indicated in Fig. 7, to prevent wear on the bolts and impingement of material against the "bolts.

the blades 36 are so positioned as to dig into the wall of the hole and urge the cutter elements 25 outward, but the outward movement is restrained by means of a rope or cable 2! which is wound around shaft 29. The upstanding squared shafts 32 are restrained against movement by engagement of pawl with ratchet wheel 4! formed on the upper face of sprocket 3! as will best be seen in Figs. 3 and 6. However, upon lifting of pawl 40., either manually .orLby the action'of cam 39 engaging'cam bar 38"upon circular movement of the rotary table thereunder, the cam will de- 1 press the heel of pawl 40 allowing the under W'henthe-under reamer elements 25 are fully retracte'd; as indicated in Fig. 1, they may easily pass into the shaft or hole indicated at 21 and beeither manually expanded outward by crank.

30 orpermitted to expand outward upon rotation of therotary table as will be more fully described hereinafter;

Aspointed out above, the squared shafts extend upward through rotary table 12 and are slidable in bushings 33, which bushings are rotatable and journaled within rotary-table l2 and fixed against longitudinal movement by set collar 33a held in place by a set screw as shown in Fig. 2

The sprocket 34 is made integral with bushing 33 and is removable with rotarytable [2 as a composite unit including chain 35' and sprocket 3!, by loosening of bolts Ila which enables the swinging of lugs i I to one side to permit thelifting of the rotary table l2 from bearings m either upon the removal of bevel gear 8 or the bearing member la;

In certain types of earth formation or strata, the cutter elements 25 may be fed outward'at a predetermined rate in accordance with the revolutions .of the rotary table l2. To do this, a cam actuating bar 38 is moved inward as indicated in full outline in Fig. 6, until the bar extends over a.

forced into engagement with ratchet wheel 4 I. by.

a spring mounted under the heel of. the pawl 40. Upon rotation of under. reamer element 20,

reamer elements 25 to swing outward, but if the cam is only in slight engagement with the cam actuating bar 38, only one tooth of the ratchet will pass. under .the pawl, but, if adjusted at a higher degree on the inclined heel of the pawl 49-, the. pawl will be depressed a greater length upstanding squared axial portion 43 made integral.

with the ratchet wheel 4| and sprocket 3! to en able the use of a. crank 30' for the manual cp'era- The 1 sprocket 31 carries a pointer 44 below the chain tion of. the under reamer elements 25.

3.5 which pointer is adapted to pass over indicia, marked on the upper face of the rotary table, which indicia may be graduated to show the numberof inches the 'under'reamer elements are expanded;

Offeration In preparing footings for certain foundations;

it-is often desirable to under ream these footings so as to' present a much larger bottom surface within the foundation hole, or it may be desirable to present a larger'surface at some intermediate :place within the foundation hole, or in other typesof construction it may be desirable to underream a shaft or hole at some particular point without. th necessity of weight having to be applied to the drill stem, as has'beenthe case with under reamers in use heretofora To under ream a footing'either at the bottom or at' any: point thereabove, the under reamer,

generally designated at 20, is lowered by-hoistrifl' and cable IT until properly positioned. At this point the crank 30 may be manipulated so as to enable-squared shafts which are in geared.rela-- tion with sprocket 3! to be rotated until the pointer M indicates the desired number of inches,

as shown in Fig. 6, at which the under reaming or cutting is to: start. Then, by the manipulation of crank 3.0and; pawl 40, cable 21 is payed outof shaft29 ina gauged amount topermit the under reamer elements 25 to swing outward, as illustratedin Figs. 4 and 5. Although, if desired, the cam actuating-bar 38 may be moved inward so that upon rotation of the rotary table 12, by

meansv of power unit 4, the cam 3.9 will pass under cam actuating bar 3B.to lift pawl 40 for a predetermined time so'that'ratchet wheel 4 I will rotate I one or more notches to pay out cable 27 at a' uniform rate for each revolution of the rotary table I2. As explained above, the rotary table 12 is driven by pinion 8 in mesh with ring gear 9. -As the rotary table I2 is rotated, the drill stem I4- is suspended by swivel l8 and cable I1 so as to maintain the under reamer at the desired position untilthe complete under'reaming operation is: performed; 4

"As the earth isremoved from th side walls of the bore hole 2|, the cutter elements 25 receive the loose dirt thereinto until the cutter elements are approximately filled, at which time the under reamer elements 25 are retracted by manipulation of crank 30, after which the drill stem I4 is lifted upward by cable l1 and hoist [9 to a position as shown in Fig. 1, whereupon, the under reamer elements may be opened to the position as shown in Fig. 5, and the earth formation therein removed either manually or by therotary tabl being reversed and the earthslung out by centrifugal force. As soon as the earth is removed the cutter elements 25 are retracted and the under reamer lowered into the hole and the operation repeated untilthe desired results are obtained. 7 V

It is to be pointed out that a circular plate 23 is positioned below the cutter elements 25 to give additional support to the cutter elements and also to form a table on which part of the loose earth formation may rest until the tool is withdrawn and cleaned.

To operate the device without theautomatic feed feature, of the cam actuating bar 38 and cam 39, the bar 38 may be retracted as indicated in dashed outline in Fig. 6, and held in this retracted position by a set screw 45, screw threaded into bracket 55, which bracket is attached to the frame member 3 exterior of the rotary table I2.

It is to be further pointed out that the cutting element or serrated blade 36 is easily removable for replacement or resurfacing with hard material as desired.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In an earth under reamer the combination of'an under reamer stem, 9; pair of longitudinal, spaced supports secured to said stem near the lower end thereof, a pair of hollow under reamer buckets each of which'has an arcuate'side wall, a top plate and a bottom plate secured to the respective upper and lower extremities of said side walls, each of said buckets being pivotally mounted at one end between 'said support members, a blade member on the respective ends'of said hollow buckets opposite the pivoted ends, said buckets being arranged in opposed relation, means for limiting the outward movement of said bucket members, and mean remote from said buckets for moving said buckets inward.

2. In an earth under reamer the combination of an under reamer stem, a pair of longitudinal, spaced supports secured to said stem near the lower end thereof, a pair of hollow under reamer buckets each of which has an arcuate side wall,

a top plate and a bottom plate secured-to the respective upper and lower extremities of said side walls, each of said buckets being pivotally mounted at one end between said support members, a blade member on the respective ends of said hollow buckets opposite the pivoted ends, said buckets being arranged in opposed relation, means for limiting the outward movement of said bucket members a gauged amount, and means remote from said buckets for moving said buckets inward. v

3. In an earth under reamer the combination of an under reamer stem, a pair of longitudinal, spaced supports secured to said stem near the lower end thereof, a pair of hollow under reamer buckets each of which has an arcuate side wall, a top plate and a bottom plate secured to the vmounted at one end betweensaid supportmem bers, a blade member on the respective ends; of

said hollow buckets opposite the; pivoted ends,

said bucket members being arranged in opposed relation, means for limiting th outward movement of said bucket members a gaugedamount, indicia means: connectedwith said buckets for determining the position of said buckets when in operative position, and means remote from said secured thereto, a pair of hollow under'reamer buckets each of which has an arcuatesidewall, a top plate and a bottom plate secured tothe respective upperv and lower extremities of said side walls, each of said buckets being pivotally mounted at one end between said support memhere, a blade on the respective ends of said hollow buckets opposite the pivoted ends,'said bucket members being arranged in opposed relation, means for limiting the outward movement of said bucket members a I gauged amount, and means remote from said bucketsfor moving said buckets inward. 5. In an earth under reaming device a base,ja rotary table mounted on said base for rotation relative thereto, power means for driving said rotary table, gearing for connecting said rotary table with said driving means for rotating said rotary table, an aperture formed axially of-said rotary table to slidably receive a stem, said'stem respective upper and lower extremities of said side walls, each of said buckets being pivotally said buckets inward.

being mounted insaid aperture for unitaryrOtary movement with said rotary table, means connected to said stem for lowering said stem, a pair of spaced longitudinal supports secured to said stem near the lower end thereof, a pair of shafts each of which is journaled in said spaced longitudinal supports near the outer ends thereof'and extend-v ing upwardly parallel with said stem and through apertures formed in said rotary table, gear means positioned on each of said shafts and 'slidable rotary table, a pair of hollow under reamer buckets each of which has arcuate side walls, a top plate and a bottom plate secured to the respective upper and lower extremities of said side' walls, each of said buckets being secured to each shaft, each shaft being pivotally mounted between said support members, a blade member onthe respective ends of said hollow buckets opposite the pivoted ends, said buckets being arranged in opposed relation, means for limiting the outward movement of said bucket members, and means remote from said buckets for moving 6.In an earth under reamer the combination of an under reamer stem, a pair of spaced longitudinal supports secured to said stem near the lower end thereof, a pair of hollow under reamer buckets each of which has. an arcuate side wall, a top plate and a bottom plate secured to the re-' spective'upper and lower extremities of said side walls, each of said buckets being pivotally m-ount-' ed' at one end between said support members, a

blade member on the respective ends of said holspaced supports near the outer ends thereof and ass sses extending ,upwardly --substantially said stem; -means for operatively rotating each of 7 said parallel shafts, means connected with each of said shafts for operativelymovingthe re- 'spective buckets, and means for holding said shafts-in adjusted position.

-7. In'an earth under reamer -the-combination of anunder reamer stem, a pair of longitudinal, spaced supports 'secured to said stem nearthe lower end thereof, a-pair of hollow-underreamer buckets each -'of which has an arcuate sidewall, atop plate-and a bottom plate secured to the respective upper-and lower extremities of said side walls, each-of said buckets being pivotally mounted at one end between said supports, a blade member'on theresp'ective ends ofsaid hollow buckets opposite the pivoted ends, said bucket members being arranged in opposed relation, a pair of shafts journaled in said spaced supports near the outer ends thereof and extending upwardly substantially parallel with said stem, a sprocket mounted on'ea'ch of-said shafts in driving relation thereto and relatively slidable therein, a chain encircling said sprockets on said shafts and also encircling a drive sprocket, means for rotating' said drivesprocket to simultaneouslyv rotate said parallel shafts, means for holding said drive sprocket in an adjusted position and cable means connected with each of said shafts and tothe outer end of each of said buckets to adjust said'buckets in direct relation to the rotation of said shafts.

parallel with i 8: In an earth under'reaming device a base, a

rotary table mounted on said base for rotation relative thereto, power'means for'driving said r0"- tary' table, gearingior connecting said "rotary table anjd'said power means for rotating said rotaryitable, an aperture formed axially of said rotary table to slidably receive a stem, said stem being mounted" in said aperturefor' unitary rotary movement with said rotary table; means connected to said stem for lowering said stem, a pair of spaced, longitudinal supports secured to said stem near the'lower end thereof, a pair of hollow under reamer buckets each of which'is pivotally mounted at one end between said support members, a blade member on the respective ends of said hollow buckets opposite the pivoted ends,

said; buckets being arranged in opposed relation, a pair of shafts each of whichis journaled in said spaced supports and extending; upwardly substantially parallel with said stem, a sprocket on each of'said shafts which sprockets are journaled on said rotary table and slidable relative to said shafts and rotatable therewith, a further sprocket 'j'ournaled on said rotary table and having a ratchet formed thereon, a chain passing'around said sprockets so as to operatively connect said sprocketson said shafts with said sprocket on said r'otary table,'a-pawl' cooperating with said ratchet for releasing said sprocket having a ratchet formed thereon for rotation of said.

sprocket a'predeterm-ine'd amount, cam means for actuating said pawl in=timed relation with the secured to the respective upper and lower eX- tremities of said sidewalls; each of said buckets being pivotally mounted atone end between said support members, a blade on the respective ends of said hollow, semi-ovalunder reamer buckets opposite 'the piv'oted ends, said bucket members being arranged in opposed relation, means for limiting the outward movement of "said bucket members, and means remote' from said buckets for moving said buckets inward.

' EDGAR L. CARPENTER References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PA IENTS Number Name Date 7 708,247 Newell u Sept. 2, 1902 1,236,940 I-Iuesselmann Aug, 14, 1917 1,298,509 Johnson 31125, 1919 11,427,064- Caverlyv Aug. 22, 1922 1,966,008 Forney- July 10,1934

2,286,583 Shoup June 16, 1942 

